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Minutes – Planning and Conservation Committee – 11 September 2025

The agenda and papers for this meeting are available here: Planning and Conservation Committee – 11 September 2025 – agenda and papers

The minutes of this meeting are presented below.

You can also download a PDF copy of the minutes here: Minutes – Planning and Conservation Committee – 11 September 2025

PLANNING AND CONSERVATION COMMITTEE

Minutes

Date: Thursday 11 September 2025

Time: 4.00pm – 5.14pm

Location: Council Chamber, The Council House • North Street • Chichester • West Sussex • PO19 1LQ

PRESENT: Councillors Butler (AB), C Gershater (CG), Apel (CA) and Chant (RC)

EX-OFFICIO: The Mayor, Councillor McHale.

ALSO IN ATTENDANCE: Town Clerk (TC), Planning Advisor (PA), Communications, Civic and Council Support Officer (CCCSO), Councillor Vivian (via Teams), Steve Hill and Simon Oakley of WSCC and 1 member of the public

48. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Cllr Russell and Vivian (via Teams) sent their apologies.

49. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST BY MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE IN MATTERS ON THE AGENDA FOR THIS MEETING

  • The Mayor declared that they were friends with the owners of 24 West Street
  • Cllr Chant declared that they were the Vice Chair of the Licensing Sub-Committee at Chichester District Council and that they would therefore not participate in the item related to Street Trading Consent items.

50. PROPOSAL FOR NEW BUS SHELTERS ON ROUTE 51

Steve Hill from West Sussex County Council addressed the Committee regarding a proposal to establish a working group to look at locations for installing new bus shelters along Route 51. The initiative will be funded through the Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP), which supports enhancements to public transport infrastructure.

Once installed, any shelters located within the Parish boundaries will become the responsibility of the City Council for ongoing maintenance and management.

Committee RESOLVED that they would like to join the Working Group and work with West Sussex County Council to identify suitable sites and would take on ongoing maintenance for any new shelters installed.

SMH and CA AGREED to join the working group.

51. PUBLIC QUESTIONS

There were no questions received in advance of the meeting

52. MINUTES OF THE PLANNING AND CONSERVATION COMMITTEE MEETING HELD ON 17 JULY 2025

Minutes were APPROVED and signed as a correct record

53. UPDATES ON ACTIONS FROM THE PREVIOUS MEETING

Committee noted that all actions had been completed

54. APPLICATIONS FOR PLANNING PERMISSION

Committee considered planning

CC/25/01956/FUL – 24 West Street Chichester West Sussex PO19 1QP

Chichester City Council has NO OBJECTION to the above application.

55. NEW PLANNING ITEMS RECEIVED SINCE PUBLISHING OF AGENDA

The committee noted the new Tree Perseveration Order that had been issued for Windsor Road

56. CHICHESTER DISTRICT COUNCIL ADOPTS LOCAL PLAN

Committee NOTED the adoption of the Local Plan by Chichester District Council and the summary of the main changes and their implications for the City.

A member of the public asked what the plan was with regards to the Neighbourhood Plan now that the Local Plan had been adopted.

It was explained that the City Council had resolved not to proceed with the plan at this stage due to various uncertainties regarding Local Government Reorganisation, the urgent need to start developing a new Local Plan to meet revised housing targets and the lack of an obvious policy gap or positive purpose that the Neighbourhood Plan needed to address.

The member of the public asked if there was there any intention to take the Neighbourhood Plan forward?

The Chair advised that at the moment there was no intention to prioritise resources on progressing a neighbourhood plan.

TC noted that the Planning Consultant had advised the City Council that, in the absence of a clearly demonstrated need for the Neighbourhood Plan, it would not be in the Council’s best interests to proceed with the project.

The member of public requested that the City Council update the Neighbourhood Plan page with the latest news and publish the report from Steve Tilbury consulting.

57. STREET TRADING CONSENT APPLICATIONS

The committee NOTED the following applications

1. CHICHESTER CROSS MARKET & MORE – Sunday 12th October 2025 & Sunday 22nd March 2026 (10am until 4pm)

2. CHICHESTER FESTIVE MARKETS – Saturday 6th & Sunday 7th December 2025 and Saturday 13th & Sunday 14th December 2025

58. NET ZERO MATTERS

No new updates

59. ENFORCEMENT MATTERS

No new items at this stage.

60. TRAFFIC ISSUES

The Committee NOTED the officers report and the costs of the SID devices.

Committee AGREED to recommend financing that the additional brackets be purchased at a cost of £400.00.

61. REVIEW OF CURRENT COMMITTEE TERMS OF REFERENCE AND DELEGATION ARRANGEMENTS

The Committee then reviewed the current Terms of Reference and Scheme of delegation and made the following recommendations: That they SUPPORT the recommendation for Public Realm to be moved in to Planning and Conservation committee.

2) the Committee reviewed the scheme of delegation and RECOMMENDED that it be updated to allow delegated responsibility for expenditure on items within its delegated scheme of authority that were within agreed annual budgets.

3) The Planning advisor proposed some additional changes to the Officers scheme of delegation were required to reflect our current working practices, which would be considered further at the October meeting.

62. COMMITTEE BUDGET FOR 2026/27

The committee reviewed their anticipated budget requirements for 2026/27 and proposed that the following requests should be made to the finance committee:

  • Asset replacement allocation for SID devices – £2k
  • Community Highway Scheme projects – £50k
  • Public realm items – £30k
  • Bus Shelters – £15k
  • Net Zero – £2.5k
  • Environment – £2.5k

63. ITEMS TO BE INCLUDED ON THE NEXT AGENDA

  • Budget
  • Neighbourhood Plan

64. DATE OF NEXT ORDINARY MEETING

DATE OF NEXT ORDINARY MEETING: Thursday 9 October 2025

The meeting closed at 5.14pm.

ACTIONS ARISING FROM THIS MEETING

Minute ref.ActionAssigned to
50.To provide details of Councillors attending the Bus Shelter Working Group to Steve Hill.Officers
54 & 55.To submit comments from Committee on planning applications to Chichester District Council.Officers
56.To update the Neighbourhood Plan web page including the report from Steve Tilbury.Officers
60.Pass on recommendation to purchase of additional SID brackets to Finance Committee.Officers
61.Update Committee Terms of Reference and Delegation Arrangements.Officers
62.Consider items for draft of Planning and Conservation Committee Budget.Officers
63.To include items on the next Agenda of the Planning and Conservation Committee Meeting.Officers
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